


Remember Your Failure

by AppoApples



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28299444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppoApples/pseuds/AppoApples
Summary: Summary: By way of Sith attack in wraith form, Anakin is dead and Luke has taken his place, only Luke doesn’t remember who he is, who the Emperor is, and where the blazing suns is he? The butterfly effect at its finest with a certain level of chaos that is impressive even by Skywalker-Kenobi standards. Time Travel/Clone Wars.This is a REBOOT: I am trying this idea again only more fleshed out with a smaller plot. Significant Brain Damage will continue. Two of my favourite tropes; amnesia and time travel ;D This is sort of a fix-it by the way that it isn’t a massive story and it has a happy ending, but everything else in between… Buckle up, Princess.
Comments: 43
Kudos: 134





	1. Skywalker

* * *

Dyslexia: We die like men because language disabilities were spawned in Hell too ;D

Prologue

“Good!” the Emperor praised him, “Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfil your destiny and take your father's place at my side!”

Luke looked at his father's mechanical hand, then to his own mechanical, black-gloved hand, and realized how much he was becoming like his father. 

It felt like his entire life had been preparing him for this moment, this decision. 

Luke stepped back and hurled his lightsaber away.

“ _ Never _ ,” his voice felt bigger than himself, as though others lived through him, as if the Force itself were speaking to through him, “I'll never turn to the dark side. You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”

The Emperor's gleeful expression fell before twisting into rage, his yellow eyes glowing in beneath his hood.

Whatever this creature was, Luke doubted he had ever been human.

The Emperor returned, “So be it... _ Jedi _ .” He raised his arms toward Luke, and Luke, standing tall, braced for a blow. 

“If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed.”

Blinding bolts of energy, lightning broken from the tide of the Force shot from the Emperor's hands toward.

Luke tried to redirect it with the Force, and at first, he was half successful, but after a

moment, the bolts of energy overcame him with such speed and power, Luke shrank back from them, his knees buckling. 

“Young fool…” the Emperor crooned to him over the crackle of electricity that felt as if it was shredding his being as it burned his flesh, “only now, at the end, do you understand.”

He was going to die.

He had failed.

Again.

He tried to hold on, tried to call to the Light in the Force around him, for help, for a reprieve, for a way to face this death without bowing before evil.

“Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side. You have paid the price for your lack of vision.”

Luke’s strength ebbed and he writhed on the floor against unbearable pain, reaching weakly up toward where his father stood watching.

Just watching.

Neither moved by love or hate. A father not fit to be called a father, as Leia would argue.

Luke groaned, even now, unable to give up hope on this man he longed for so long to know, “Father, please.  _ Help me. _ ”

Darth Vader did nothing.

Hope died in Luke’s heart as the Emperor spoke, “Now, young Skywalker...you will die.”

It happened so fast, Luke was not aware of the power he called to himself as the Emperor turned, a ruby light igniting as the lightning cut off.

“Father,  _ no!” _ Luke yelled, his own blade skittering to his hand as Darth Vader, once Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker thudded to the ground in two halves.

Luke didn’t think, didn’t acknowledge the pain he still felt from the lightning as he as his own lightsabre did the same to Darth Sidious.

The look of returned glee on the Emperor’s face was Luke’s only warning as he was confronted with agony unlike any other.

His vision bled away, the Force, the Darkness embracing him as he died.

Luke couldn’t even have named how it happened, all he knew was that death did not stop the agony it only heightened it.

The Emperor’s voice chased him through an impossible knight, an endless night were all things that died folded at the feet of all the things that could have been,  _ -Give in, young Skywalker. _

“Never,” Luke said without voice as he fled, following the glimmer of distant stars.

_ -I will unmake you, _ Sidious hissed,  _ I who sired your father through my power will unravel you both, as if you had never existed. I need you not for my plans. _

Luke reached for the nearest light, the surest path, and Vader was with them once again, only it wasn’t Vader, it was Anakin.

A light blazing against the darkness.

Sidious laughed, his voice growing more real, more tangent, “I made you!”

Anakin screamed, fighting wildly but with no direction, he didn’t understand who or what was attacking him.

In his panic, Anakin drew the Dark into himself.

Luke bellowed, “ _ No! Father, don’t-” _

__ But it was too late for him, the darkness corrupting him like lava bursting through stone.

_ No! _ Luke’s soul cried out as he tried to wrap himself protectively around that dying star.

Luke fell through the Force as all he knew went supernova, Sidious’s wail of rage was drowned out by a dimly familiar voice shouting,  _ “General Skywalker!” _

Chapter 1 - Skywalker

Rex watched Anakin drop to the dark ground, his back bowed as he screamed, struggling against an unseen foe.

“ _ General Skywalker!”  _ he and his brothers called.

But Rex kept calling, dropping to his knees in the black soil.

General Krell just stood there, staring down at their General with wide, horrified eyes.

Rex reached out to him.

“Don’t touch him!” Krell bellowed as Anakin’s body went slack and the event that Rex had seen far too many times and would continue to see for as long as he might live unfolded before him.

The light left Anakin’s eyes as he gazed unseeingly up into the stars.

* * *

Obi-Wan’s knees buckled and his Commander caught him around his waist.

“General Kenobi!” 

For a moment, Obi-Wan allowed himself to grieve, just a moment, pressing his cheek against Cody’s shoulder as the bond between himself and his apprentice shattered on the heels of agony Obi-Wan knew no kin too.

Anakin was dead.

And he had not died peacefully.

Leave it to Anakin to fight the Force on the subject of death.

Obi-Wan’s heart broke.

This was worse than losing Tahl or Qui-Gon, so much worse.

Anakin had been his charge, his brother.

Obi-Wan had failed him, failed even to teach him to welcome the Light rather than fight it and risk succumbing to the Darkness.

Obi-Wan would have given up then, let whatever befall him, fall.

But Obi-Wan was not alone, he had thousands of lives depending on him.

He straightened, leaning on Cody’s strength to regain his feet.

The war went on.

* * *

Ahsoka cried out.

Barriss was jolted from her seat as Ahsoka covered her face as the tears began to fall.

* * *

Asajj Ventress who had been plotting against her old Master felt a ripple of Darkness overtake the galaxy.

She walked away from Mother Talzin, knowing that the Sith had won and going against them now was courting death with certainty.

* * *

Count Dooku felt a wave of Darkness flood his senses and he smiled.

Victory was theirs.

He felt a distant darkling light.

His Master’s old apprentice, the Darkness whispered to him.

Dooku left to seek him out.

* * *

Darth Sidious was sitting in his office, letting himself bask in the Dark that had overtaken the Light.

Anakin was dead.

Died from succumbing to the Darkness.

It would now only be a matter of time before the galaxy bowed before him.

He sensed Dooku, and strangely, his old apprentice, Darth Maul who he had long believed dead.

He saw Dooku’s intention to after him, and Sidious had no intention of stopping him.

Let them kill each other.

Nothing mattered to Sidious anymore, the Dark was inevitable, and he was its leader.

* * *

“General Skywalker,” Rex said, his head bowing, it wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Yet one moment, in which would have sworn his general was dead, and the next, Anakin sucked in a sharp gasping breath. Turning on his side, he began to cough violently. His entire body shaking, before he once again fell still.

“Don’t touch him!” General Krell bellowed, before kneeling on the ground himself to turn Anakin over.

His eyes were closed this time and Rex could still see Anakin’s chest rising and falling.

“I have to get him back to the Temple,” Krell said as he gingerly lifted the man into his arms, and turned back to the transport he had just arrived on.

Rex didn’t rise, worry eating at him.

“Sir?” Fives asked.

Rex straightened his helmet and rose.

“We have a war to win,” Rex called to his men, “For General Skywalker.”

The call was repeated, and Rex shoved his fears aside to focus on the task at hand.

* * *

They won Umbara with surprising speed, yet Obi-Wan felt as if he had nothing.

Anakin was dead.

As he scaled the steps, and did not turn as he heard armoured feet running up behind them.

Unlike Cody, Obi-Wan didn’t turn to greet the 501st officers.

Obi-Wan didn’t have it in him to give comfort nor be comforted.

Anakin was dead.

Obi-Wan did, however, look up to meet Kit Fisto’s worried gaze.

Kit spoke first, “Krell brought him back to the Temple. He was there through all of it. Obi-Wan, we think Skywalker was attacked by Dooku’s Sith Master. Yoda doesn’t believe Dooku would have been capable of a thing like this, no matter how far he has fallen.”

Obi-Wan shook his head, “What does it matter? He’s dead.”

Kit frowned, his black eyes seemed to stare all the way through Obi-Wan and he felt the other Council member’s Force presence sweep over him.

“Obi-Wan, Anakin is alive, but he has yet to waken and we don’t know wh-”

Obi-Wan reached out to grab the other male’s shoulder, “What do you mean, he’s alive?”

“He’s with the healers now-”

Obi-Wan didn’t pause to listen as he ran to the healer’s ward stretching out with his senses.

He couldn’t feel Anakin, couldn’t feel the bond between them.

But he trusted Kit to not play such a cruel game on him.

He found Ahsoka first, she was being kept outside the room. Her friend Barriss holding her hand. Her blue eyes told him that it was bad.

No one stopped Obi-Wan from entering.

Anakin was on the bed with no signs of physical injury, though he had been supplied with a breathing mask.

Mace was standing over him, Yoda at his side.

“What happened?” Obi-Wan demanded, reaching for Anakin’s good wrist to feel his pulse himself.

Anakin’s Force presence felt…

It was like looking at light through an old broken bottle.

Dim light, with bright cracks.

Obi-Wan’s breath caught, it was a type of injury he had never seen before.

Yoda nodded, “Hurt, he is. Know what will become of him, we do not.”

“How?” Obi-Wan asked.  _ How had this happened? How was this possible? _

Rex was allowed in, as were Fives, Appo, and Cody.

“We were greeting General Krell and he just- it was as if he were fighting for his life.”

“I thought he died,” Fives said directly.

“But he woke up,” Appo added on, “he came back.”

Obi-Wan’s heart squeezed, why hadn’t he felt Anakin come back? Was what remained of him, even him? Even capable of coming back to life?

Or was he going to live the rest of his life as a vegetable? What in the Force could have done this?

The sanitized room suddenly felt too small.

“Breathe, you must,” Yoda cautioned him.

Obi-Wan inhaled, wrapping his hand around Anakin’s and reached out again through their bond, ignoring the damaged end and reaching for the life inside of his Padawan.

Reached for the Light, as if he could coax an ember to take flame.

Minutes or years passed, Obi-Wan felt Anakin’s pain, his terror, but beneath that, was…

Anakin’s eyes opened.

Obi-Wan could have cried as he touched his Padawan’s face.

Anakin frowned up at him, “Ben?”

Obi-Wan froze, the happiness draining from him as Anakin gazed around him in confusion.

* * *

He was in pain, pain without name or being.

There was only Darkness.

The last seeds of Sidious were breaking him down, chipping away pieces of him.

But he was never alone in the Force.

A light reached out to him, familiar and warm and constant.

_ The Force will be with you _ ,  _ always,  _ that Light whispered to him.

And the Sith fled from his hope, from that promise and actuality of Light.

Luke was still pretty sure he was dead, even as he opened his eyes. 

Expecting to see a ghost, Luke was rather surprised to see a physical man with reddish-blonde hair and beard.

“Ben?”

It felt like Ben, even if the armoured man didn’t look much like him.

Luke relaxed a bit, until a deep voice boomed beside him, “Welcome back, Skywalker.”

He flinched back from the stranger glowering down at him with dark eyes. Ben steadied him at the shoulder even as Luke ripped the mask from his face and asked, “Who- who are you? Where are we?”

The dark man’s brows rose and he rocked back on his feet a bit, “You don’t know who I am?”

“No?” Luke answered, looking around the rest of the room frantactly, and panicked when he saw the stormtroopers behind Ben.

Gathering the Force to him, he threw his hand out, gritting his teeth through the feeling of shoving himself through broken shards of glass as he threw the stormtroopers back. One of his arms felt far heavier than it should have been he mused as he pulled Ben behind him whil struggling to his feet.

Finding his feet, he took guard before his old friend.

The Empire couldn’t have him again.

But the stormtroopers didn’t raise their weapons, but their empty hands. One took off his helmet, tossing it aside as he called, “General Skywalker!”

Luke froze, his mind struggling with conflicting information. Finally, he settled on what the Force was telling him, “Rex?”

It didn’t look like Rex.

But the man nodded, his voice thick with relief as he answered, “Yes, Sir.”

The other men took off their helmets too and with small variations, they all had copies of the same face, despite the fact that they were completely different within the Force.

“Clones?” Luke asked, struggling to comprehend as a migraine formed behind his eyes. “What’s happening? Where am I?”

He tried to remember, tried to think.

“Where was I?” he asked, letting himself sit as the world began to spin.

He didn’t feel good.

Ben knelt beside him, “Anakin-”

“My name isn’t Anakin,” Luke snapped, angry for a reason he didn’t understand. He covered his face with his hands. “But I should know that name… Why am I angry?”

There was a long silence.

Eventually, Ben said, “ _ You _ are Anakin.”

Luke shook his head, but even as he did, his memories flowed between his fingers like water. But he was certain that he was not Anakin.

Or at least certain he did not  _ want  _ to be Anakin.

“ _ No,” _ he said.

“Then who are you?” the dark one asked.

Luke wrapped his arms around his knees, curling around himself, some sense holding him back from giving these people his first name. He tried to follow that feeling through the Force, but the Force was dark.

So much darkness.

Finally, Luke answered, “Skywalker.”

A shuffle of feet, claws on tile, a wooden staff.

Luke looked up to see… “Master Yoda?”

“Hmmm…” the little green Master hummed, “Remember me you do?”

“Of course, Master.”

Yoda’s brows rose, he looked healthy, Luke noted, even as the goblin said, “Remember me you do, but not your own?”

Luke frowned, before turning to the well of sadness beside him, “Ben? I remember Ben, how could I ever forget Ben Kenobi? I’ve always known him.”

Ben frowned at him, “Anakin, my first name is not Ben.”

Luke paused a moment, it took longer than it should have, but then he recalled it, “Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Obi-Wan’s smile was a bit pained, but he nodded, “Yes, Padawan. And you are Anakin Skywalker.”

Luke flinched and opened his mouth to say his true name despite the warning in the Force.

But a young Togruta entered the room then, Rex standing to catch her around the waist to stop her from approaching.

“Anakin!” she cried.

Luke blinked at her.

“Are you alright?” she demanded.

He frowned, and shook his head, “No- I, I don’t know where I was. Something… I lost to the Sith. I… I failed.”

He looked at Obi-Wan and Yoda, “I am so sorry, Masters, I failed you.”

Obi-Wan wrapped his arm around him, “You haven’t failed, Padawan. You’re alive.”

Luke leaned into him, “I shouldn’t be.”

All he could recall was the flash of red and green light, of blue lightning… pain, anger, agony…

Darkness.

He should be dead.

Someone had died, died twice, and it had broken Luke. His attachment had led him to failure just as Yoda and Obi-Wan had warned him.

“Where was I?” he asked again.

“Umbara,” Obi-Wan answered.

“Umbara?” Luke repeated, “Where is Umbara?”

He was pretty sure that’s  _ not _ where he had been.

But memory was a slippery thing and the Force seemed to be falling in around him.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan asked slowly, “Do you know where you are?”

“No.”

“Do you know who she is?” 

Luke looked back at the Togruta and answered, “No.”

“I’m your Padawan,” the female said, outraged.

“What is a Padawan?” he asked.

Her expression fell, and she took a step back, “A Jedi Apprentice.”

He frowned at her, “But I’m not a Jedi Master.”

Luke was pretty sure he wasn’t even a Knight yet.

She blinked at him and Obi-Wan kept asking questions, “Do you know who they are?”

He asked, indicating the clones.

Luke shook his head, “Only Rex, I never met any of his brothers.”

There was an even deeper silence as everyone frowned at him.

An elderly twi’lek woman knelt beside him then, stepping from the corner Luke hadn’t been paying attention to.

Stupid. He was more disorientated than he had realized.

“Young Skywalker, you are in the Jedi Temple,” she said kindly.

Luke gaped at her, “There is a Jedi Temple!?”

She paused, her brow pinching even as she asked mildly, “Why does that surprise you?”

He closed his eyes, “I don’t remember. Why can't I remember anything?”

“I am Healer Che, we are going to discover that together. Whatever happens, you aren’t alone, Knight Skywalker.”

He nodded.

“And I am sorry, but I need to ask you just a few more questions,” she continued.

At his nod, she asked, “Where are you from?”

“Tatooine.”

“What is your mother’s name?”

He shook his head, “I don’t know.”

He never had.

“When did you meet Obi-Wan?”

“When I was a kid.”

“Do you remember Master Qui-Gon Jinn?”

Luke frowned harder, “Hasn’t- isn’t he- I mean he passed on.” He ended lamely, not wanting to hurt Obi-Wan who already radiated with sorrow.

“You know we are fighting a war?” she asked.

He scowled, “I’m a General, of course, I know that.”

He was pretty sure he hadn’t been a General long, but he had earned it.

She nodded, “Against who?”

“The Empire,” he said, exasperated, he wasn’t entirely sure what his name was, where he was, where he had been, or what was happening, but he could never forget what they were fighting against.

The majority in the room seemed to disagree with him, however.

“What Empire?” Obi-Wan asked.

Luke turned to him in astonishment, then gestured to the troopers before remembering they were clones and not stormtroopers.

Although he supposed there were still clones working for the Empire.

Luke recovered, “The Sith, we are fighting against the Sith.”

The clone with orange on his armour crossed his arms, “Did you think we worked for the Separatists?”

“The Separatists?” Luke repeated, the word hitting a bell, but only dimly.

“Yes,” Rex’s brother said, “the Separatists, in the Outer Rim-”

“What are you talking about?” Luke demanded, “It isn’t the Outer Rim strangling the life out of the galaxy and forcing everyone into submission. It’s the Core. The danger is on Coruscant, that’s where the Sith are.”

Again, the room filled with silence.

Rex spoke slowly, “Sir,  _ we _ are on Coruscant.”

Luke paled, and breathed, “No…”

He turned on Obi-Wan, frantic, “We can’t be here! They’ll kill us! We’ll never escape!” 

He tried to stand and Obi-Wan gripped him by the shoulders, “ _ Anakin _ , breathe, we are safe-”

“No!” Luke exclaimed, “I can’t lose you again!”

“Anakin! We are safe, this is our home. There is no Empir-”

“You don’t understand!” Luke pleaded, his panic mounting, “They’ll kill us! We’re the last! They’ll kill us!”

“Who will kill us?” Obi-Wan asked as gently as he could even as he struggled to keep Luke from pulling them to their feet, “Why would we be killed on Coruscant?”

“Because it’s a death sentence!” Luke shouted, black spots chasing across his vision.

“What is?” Ben asked, his eyes wide as he searched Luke’s face.

Luke felt a needle in his neck, and the panic faded, even as he said, “To be a Jedi…”

He slipped back into the darkness and discovered an uneasy peace with consciousness.

* * *

Obi-Wan held his unconscious Padawan slumped in his arms, meeting Yoda’s worried gaze.

Che was holding a tranquillizer and Ahsoka stood frozen where Rex held her back from her injured Master.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Appo remarked into the tension. 

Obi-Wan’s grip tightened around Anakin, “What’s happening? What was he talking about?”

“His memory is damaged,” Che said, “I’m not even certain he knows who he  _ thinks _ he is.”

“In one other, seen this, Have I,” Yoda said gravely.

“Who?” Obi-Wan demanded.

“Master Sifo-Dyas,” Mace said, “his visions of the future drove him mad in the end.”

Dread overcame Obi-Wan and he could hardly speak around the lump in his throat, “But this… this was too fast. Anakin has visions, but not like that. He hasn’t said anything-”

“An attack, this was,” Yoda said, “much healing he needs. Guidance, he needs. Your Padawan again, he is, Master Kenobi.”

“What about me?” Ahsoka asked.

“Separate you shall remain,” Yoda said not unkindly, “A danger to himself and others, Skywalker is. Walk closely to death he does, if lose balance further he does, recover he will not. An unfit teacher he is now.”

Ahsoka shut her eyes, then tore away from Rex, running from the room. Barriss, who had been waiting by the doorway, followed after her.

“How likely is it that he can recover?” Obi-Wan asked, “That he’ll regain his memories?”

“Uncertain that is,” Yoda said, “More real his vision than his memories seem to him.”

Che translated, “Which isn’t a good sign, but he was panicked, give him time to recover. For the fear to fade.”

“Only then can more we learn,” Yoda said.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes, and wrapped the light around himself and Anakin, the answering light in Anakin glowed stronger.

_ You are not alone, my Padawan. _

Stronger still the light grew, giving Obi-Wan a shred of hope to hold onto as he waited through the night.

* * *

AN: So partial but major amnesia for Luke and the Force being decidedly unbalanced. Thoughts, reactions, orcas, or ideas?


	2. Waking Up

KEYnote: I completely screwed up the Clone Wars plotline on purpose. Palpatine, Dooku, Asajj, Obi-Wan, Maul, Anakin, and Ahsoka are not where they would have been.  **I will not follow the Clone Wars timeline or plotline :D**

Chapter 2 - Waking Up

Luke woke slowly, and for a moment, he just appreciated being able to breathe.

Why that was a marvel, he wasn’t sure.

Of course the longer he meditated on that, the more uncertain things became.

Unable to continue with his own train of thought, or lack thereof tracks, he opened his eyes. Blinking back against the light.

Someone shifted in a chair beside the bed and Luke looked over to see… Ben- no, Obi-Wan.

The man smiled at him, and Luke wondered at him being real.

“Anaki-”

Luke flinched, and Obi-Wan immediately amended, “Padawan, how are you feeling?”

Luke shook his head, “I- not well, I can’t remember anything.”

Obi-Wan put his hand over his where it rested on the sheet, “What do you remember, my Padawan?”

“Pain.”

Obi-Wan gazed at him, “You were attacked.”

It was blessedly a statement and Luke nodded, “Darth Sidious, he… he tried to destroy me. Unwrite me within the Force.”

Obi-Wan eyes widened, “How?”

“He said he made me,” Luke tried to explain, "He said… he was my sire? But not like a regular father but that he had  _ made  _ me. I didn't understand what he meant…"

Obi-Wan was quiet for a long time, and Luke looked at him harder, "Do  _ you _ know what he meant, Master?"

He hesitated for a moment, before sighing, "I never put much stock into this, seeing as there are a million reasons your mother could have answered to Qui-Gon the way she did, but she said that there was no father. According to a prophecy of the Chosen One was supposed to have no father."

"The Chosen One for what?"

"To balance the Force.”

Luke groaned, closing his eyes, and he couldn’t keep the exhaustion out of his voice as he asked, “How am I supposed to do that?”

Obi-Wan squeezed his hand, “It isn’t something you have to worry now.”

Luke’s eyes flew open as he remembered some of last night, “Are we still on Coruscant?”

“Yes, we are.”

“ _ Obi-Wan _ ,” Luke hissed, “Are you out of your mind?”

“Says the man who can’t remember his own first name,” Obi-Wan retorted.

“Who cares what my name is if we get arrested and executed?”

Obi-Wan raised an amused brow, “Why would we be arrested? What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything- okay, I did, but it isn’t my fault the Jedi are extinct.”

“Extinct?” Obi-Wan repeated his words playful but his expression shocked.

Luke was completely confused, this is what Obi-Wan and Yoda told him, “There’s only three of us left. And if we are still on Coruscant, we are dead too.”

“Three?” Obi-Wan asked, bewildered.

Luke flushed, “Okay, two. I guess I don’t count, do I?”

“Count as what?”

“A Jedi Knight,” Luke said patiently even as his mind spun with options. Maybe carbonate? “I never passed my trials.”

Obi-Wan stroked his beard, “You graduated to Knight at nineteen.”

Luke frowned, “That’s not right… I-” he drew a blank, “...can’t remember.”

“You think Yoda and I are the only surviving Jedi? Why were the others killed?”

Luke stared at him, “Why are you asking me that? You lived it, I didn’t.”

“Didn’t you?” Obi-Wan countered.

“No- I, you hid me, you hid everything from me until R2D2 showed up.”

“Showed up?”

“Stop answering every question with a question, you already know all of this; you were there.”

“Humour me,” Obi-Wan drawled.

“The Jedi were blamed for the Clone Wars and were pronounced enemies of the Republic. They were considered too dangerous to imprison so they were slaughtered in mass. Anyone who escaped was hunted down. I’m pretty sure even being a known Force sensitive was enough to get you in trouble.” 

Horror, pure horror chased across Obi-Wan’s expression, as if this was the first time he was hearing of this.

“What?” the Jedi Master asked, “But why? The war was the Senate’s idea.”

“The war was pretty pointless and didn’t affect the Core regions except to disrupt their economy. The war grew quite unpopular and when the Senate voted to become an Empire after the war was won by the Republic, the Sith manoeuvred it so the Jedi being the enemy. Which makes sense, I suppose, the Order wouldn’t have supported an empire.”

Obi-Wan stared at him and was quiet for a long moment.

“The things you saw in your vision-”

“It wasn’t a vision, it was  _ real, _ ” Luke protested.

“I can prove to you it was a vision, Padawan.” 

“Oh, really?” Luke challenged.

Obi-Wan nodded, “There are ten thousand Jedi Knights in the galaxy today, close to a thousand Padawans and a few hundred younglings. The Republic still stands and the Clone Wars are ongoing.”

Luke put his hands to his temples, and startled at the feel of metal, looking down at his hands, he discovered why his arm was so heavy, “What happened to my entire arm? I thought I just lost my hand.” 

Obi-Wan shook his head, “Count Dooku; you lost a duel to a Sith.”

Luke sighed, “I wasn’t ready. You and Yoda told me I needed to be patient, that I wasn’t ready. I should have listened to you.”

Obi-Wan laid a hand his head, “We survived, and everyone makes mistakes.”

Luke nodded, but asked, “So… Coruscant is safe? The Jedi are more than myth?”

Obi-Wan frowned, “Of course, what am I, a relic?”

Luke stared at him, “I thought you died and left me.”

Obi-Wan brushed his hair back, “I thought the same. But that’s not what happened. You were attacked by the Sith, you had a vivid vision, and now, you are injured.”

Luke shuddered, “I should be dead.”

Obi-Wan squeezed his shoulder, “You are not. What else did you see?”

He shook his head, “It was  _ real _ , Obi-Wan, if the Jedi are real, you should leave the Core. You should get the younglings somewhere safe, away from the war, away from the government.”

Obi-Wan stared at him, “How sure are you? Anakin, you don’t even know-”

“But isn’t it better to be safe? The war with the Separatists doesn’t matter, Master. They were right, the Senate was corrupt. And things get worse with the Empire.”

“Who is the Emperor?” Obi-Wan asked.

Luke struggled, “He’s… he’s the one who attacked me. His eyes were yellow and he… the was lightning. He won because I killed him.”

Obi-Wan’s brows pinched, “He won  _ because _ you killed him?”

Luke nodded, “That’s how he got inside of me. Master Yoda said a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence, never for attack. But that’s exactly what I did and that’s how he won.”

“He didn’t win,” Obi-Wan said firmly, “You are still alive. As are the Jedi. Is there anything else you can remember?”

“No, not that I can recall, just flashes.”

Obi-Wan nodded, “I’m going to leave you with Rex and Master Che while I go speak to the Council. I will be back.”   
Luke nodded, “Alright, I trust you.”

“Good, sleep some more if you can, we have been granted some leave for once. You have time to heal.”

Reached out to catch Obi-Wan’s hand, “The Clone Wars only lasted a few years, we aren’t safe. No one is.”

Obi-Wan squeezed his hand, “I’ll be back, Padawan. Rest.”

* * *

Rex was sitting with his brother’s in the healing ward cafeteria. Both the 212th and 501st had been granted leave.

Not that any of them had money or anywhere to go, but it was still a nice thought that a month or more might pass without any of them dying.

“So he remembers nothing? Not even Commander Tano?”

“He remembered Obi-Wan and Yoda," Rex said, "But he addressed General Kenobi as Ben though he wasn’t unfamiliar with the name Obi-Wan.”

“That’s random,” Greger said.

“He remembered Rex,” Fives added, “But said he had never met any of ‘Rex’s brothers’.”

They all stared at him and Waxer asked, “Excuse me?”

“He attacked us,” Appo said, “Until Rex and the rest of us took off our helmets. He wasn’t expecting us to be clones.”

“He attacked you?” Waxer repeated. 

“They are reassigning Tano too, General Yoda said Skywalker might be too dangerous.”

Gregor sat back, “Too dangerous? How unstable is he?”

“Unstable enough that he needs to be retaught how to be a Jedi, but I do not think he will be of any further danger to us otherwise. He has been demoted.”

They all turned to see General Kenobi looking soul wary.

“Are you alright, Sir?” Cody asked.

Obi-Wan shook his head, “Cody, Appo, I need you to start organizing the 212th and the 501st as a single unit. We all have some time to make the adjustments. I don’t mind if you all keep your ranks or if you need to change them, just remember once we get back on the field Anakin will have no official rank. And Rex?”

“Yes, Sir?”

“You are Commander to Cody’s Marshal Commander.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Don’t thank me, I need you to watch over Anakin again while I speak with the Council.”

Rex stood, “Of course, Sir.” 

He feltoddly lost.

“Fives, go with him. I have to go. If there are any problems com me,” General Kenobi said before leaving.

Rex sighed, “Let’s go, Fives.”

“This will be fun.”

“I’m going to start getting the status out,” Cody said.

Rex nodded, wondering why Kenobi wanted them as one unit, but then he realized that if Skywalker could remember him, he might one day remember the others, so having them around might be a good thing.

Oh, that and they had just lost both their assigned Jedi General and Commander.

At least neither was dead, was the thought he held onto as he and Fives entered Skywalker’s room.

Their ex-General was sitting upright staring down at his hands as if he couldn’t recognize him.

Rex’s heart hurt for him.

He looked up, his blue intent, but with more curiosity than Rex was used to seeing.

“Hi, Rex,” he greeted and tilted his head slightly in Five’s direction.

“Sir. This is Fives,” Rex said, not bothering with rank.

“Obi-Wan sent you to babysit?” Skywalker asked.

“Do you want to be alone?”

Skywalker shook his head, “I don’t know, I can’t turn off my thoughts but they lead nowhere.”

“Do you want to play Sabacc?” Fives asked.

Rex elbowed him but Skywalker’s response was immediate, “Sure.”

Sighing, Rex pulled up a chair beside the bed while Fives made himself at home at the end of the bed as Skywalker pulled his legs up.

“Do you remember how to play, Sir?” Rex asked.

“I’ll figure it out,” Skywalker said with a half smile.

Rex nodded but said, “No stakes,” before Fives could push it.

But it was Skywalker who said, “Except for your pride.”

Fives chortled and Rex rolled his eyes, his worry easing a bit.

This was still their Skywalker.

* * *

Obi-Wan finished explaining what Anakin had revealed to them and the Council fell completely silent for a long, long while.

Finally, Obi-Wan spoke again, “I think we should take this threat seriously.”

Mace sighed, “The public has already started blaming us, I just didn’t think it was…”

“An organized attack?” Depa finished for him, “The implications of this are monstrous.”

“Is it possible there are Sith on Coruscant?” Ki-Adi Mundi asked.

“Maul killed a Master and Padawan on Coruscant right before the Naboo Crisis,” Obi-Wan said, having been the one to investigate their disappearance.

“We never proved that,” Tiin protested.

“But knowing what we do now,” Obi-Wan argued.

“We cannot connect dots where there are none,” he retorted.

“Obi-Wan,” Depa began, “didn’t Dooku tell you there were Sith in the Senate?”

“He said there was a Sith controlling a major fraction of the Senate.”

Shaak Ti sighed, “It would explain how Dooku knows so much of movements. I knew it wasn’t the clones leaking the information.”

Such a thing had been a growing fear among them all. But Obi-Wan agreed that the Senate was a more likely weak link.

“But the idea that there are Sith on both sides,” Ki-Adi said, “that we could be working for them-”

“Leaves us in the middle,” Plo said.

“We never supported this war,” Kit said with heat, “and yet we will take the fall.”

“What can we do?” Mace asked, “Abandon the clones? We opposed that bill too and were told that they would be given to the Republic academies.”

“Specifically,” Obi-Wan added, “Coriella, they would have become privatised mercenaries in no time, or worse.”

Mace sighed, “The Senate refuses to give them citizen status.”

“That’s because they would have to pay them,” Depa said.

“We could give them a place in the Corps but the Chancellor was adamant against it. The Corps aren’t technically under the direct purview of this Council or the Senate,” Mace said, going over a problem they had been trying to solve since they discovered Kamino.

“I think we should heed Anakin’s warning,” Obi-Wan said.

“Which one?” Mace asked drily.

“We should act as if Coruscant isn’t safe, we are too close to the Senate,” Obi-Wan said.

“We are the ones with the army,” Ki-Adi Mundi retorted.

“I would rather not make the clones choose between the Jedi and the Senate,” Obi-Wan responded. “Strategically speaking, it isn’t overly prudent to have our entire people in one spot. If we move our younglings and elders…”

“And what if we cause Anakin’s vision by trying to advert it?” Mace asked.

Obi-Wan shook his head, “Sifo-Dyas predicted there would be a war, and here we are. Anakin is lucky to be alive, but with or without his vision,  _ knowing _ , that this war is an attack on who we are as a people… The Temple is a target regardless.”

Depa sat forward in her seat, “We shouldn’t be fighting this war at all. I think we should get as many of our people out as we can.”

“And leave the clones defenceless?” Adi Gallia asked.

“The clones are better trained than most of our Knights for warfare on a galactic scale,” Shaak Ti said, “Our Knights prove useful for strike teams and insurgent missions. But in general, the clones are at their best when we get out of their way with a few exceptions.”

Obi-Wan nodded, “Having our Padawans in this war was never a favourable idea, but this war stretches on too long. For the Jedi we pull off the field, we can promote officer’s ranks among the clones.”

Ki-Adi Mundi shook his head, “You would have us run away?”

“This isn’t our war,” Depa said, as cutting as shrapnel, “Dooku doesn’t know all our secret places. We have places we can go, there are planets we can send our Masters and Knights and Padawans to help rebuild and stabilize those affected by this war.”

“We can trust the clones,” Shaak Ti said, “And with Masters like Obi-Wan, Plo, Kit, Mace, Quinlan, Aayla… we have plenty of Knights who can continue but for the majority of the Order we have other skills.”

“The first step,” Obi-Wan said, “Is to get the younglings out.”

“Half the Temple guard with them, shall go,” Yoda said, speaking for the first time and siding with Obi-Wan’s hopes. “Trust the Senate, no longer can we. Not with internal matters of the Order if present the Sith are. Of no one outside the Order shall the younglings' relocation be mentioned.”

Obi-Wan decided to push things, because the first time, his fellow Masters were willing to be pushed. “And after them, any Padawan under seventeen should be sent with them.”

“Hmm…” Yoda hummed, “To the Corps perhaps, the elders shall we send with the younglings. In the Corps, much good can our Padawans do. For our younglings, much our elders could teach. Concentrate in one place we should not. Agree I do that secret these plans should remain. On the outside nothing shall change, internally, we shall not be where our enemies plan for us to be, hmm?”

Mace bowed his head, “I wanted to believe the best.”

“Perhaps the best is still possible,” Plo said, “but it is only wisdom to protect our own who are least suited to this civil war. A war we never wanted. Whether the Sith are among the Senate or not does not matter. The Republic is failing its purpose. Even winning this war will not end the corruption in the Senate.”

Obi-Wan stroked his beard and glanced out the windows. Toward the Senate building, and tried not to be afraid.

But even the Force seemed to swell with darkness and dread.

* * *

AN: Thoughts, suggestitions, ideas, or dinosaurs?


	3. Jedi Commander

**Ahsoka:** is getting a much larger role in both  _ Significant Brain Damage _ which is going to be my mammoth fic and  _ The Making of Mavericks _ , but she isn't going to get a lot of screen time in this fic.

* * *

UPDATES: My fanfic ideas come from my mind wanting to escape stress, when I get intensely stressed out, I tend to come out with a lot more ideas and less able to focus. I know nearly everyone would prefer that I focus on one idea, but  **without this process** of multiple ideas  **there would be none at all** ; it’s just who I am.

* * *

**Legends** : I’m going AU on a Legends couple, so if you don’t know who Etain Mukan and Darman are, don’t worry about it ;D

P.s. if you do know who they are and are bothered by my altering their timeline, get over it ;)

Chapter 3 - Jedi Commanders

Ahsoka stood in the training hall for the initiates and younger Padawans.

Almost all the Padawans younger than her were back, and she felt some resentment being grouped with them.

Though, it wasn’t as if they were all being demoted from their Padawan status, if anything, their responsibilities were increasing. The war had been detrimental to travel and trade routes. Not only were piracy worse, or the traffickers, but normal people were driven from their homeworlds in search of a way to survive.

The Corps, especially the medical and agriculture corps had been cut off from a lot of aid and stretched thinner and thinner as the demand for their resources only increased.

The Masters, Knights, and Padawans being taken out of the war were entering another type of crisis.

In all honesty, these were the type of crises that Ahsoka had expected to be assigned to, it was what the Jedi were actually meant for, safe transitions of power, recovering, and negations.

The war… that’s what the Jedi of old had known, had trained for.

Ahsoka even agreed that the Jedi Order would be better utilized in recovery of those affected by this war. After all, if there was one thing contributing to the Separatist movement growing, it wasn’t Dooku being an evil mastermind, it was the Republic running out of resources and neglecting its people.

So strategically, Ahsoka understood that this was for the best, this was what was needed, necessary both for the Republic and the Jedi Order to survive.

It was the reason she saw so many relieved faces among the Masters and Knights who had been recalled to the Temple. Called back and reassigned to missions they had been trained for and successfully accomplished all their lives with the added support network of the Corps.

Ahsoka had noticed that many of her brothers and sisters had never grown comfortable with military life and having thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of lives under their command.

They had been raised to preserve life, not roll the dice with millions at stake.

But there was one major difference between her and so many of her peers, especially these younger Padawans who had less than a years’ worth of active combat, and it was that Ahsoka had trained under Generals Skywalker and High General Kenobi, two of the greatest military minds in the Order.

She had come into her own with Captain Rex always at her side.

So of course, she understood that her new assignment was an honour and worthy of her time, but she was also pretty sure that a Commander of the GAR and had earned that rank more than most Jedi Knights, or even Masters, she had earned the rank of Commander.

“You seem disquieted, Little ‘Soka.”

Ahsoka startled and twirled to see Master Plo smiling at her.

Well, not that she could see him smiling, but she knew he was all the same, she always had. It was in his voice, in the lines around his eyes, in the Force, plain for her to read.

She tried to smile, “Master Plo, have you heard anything from Anakin, has he gotten any better?”

Plo shook his head, his smile fading, “No, his condition is unchanged.”

“I don’t understand why I’m not allowed to at least visit him.”

He sighed, “Come with me, there is much for us to discuss.”

She nodded, and he led her back through the grand halls to a meditation room that faced away from the afternoon sun so they could watch the brightness of the day pass in diffused shadows.

After they had sat, Plo began, “Anakin’s condition is quite severe, ‘Soka. He is damaged; damaged beyond what either healer or science can hope to diagnose or fix. Only time and hope can tell if training in the Force will help or if he will be forced to retire from the path of a Knight.”

She was aghast, “But- but being a Knight is more than knowing how to fight, it’s the wisdom-” Then a thought occurred to her, “How damaged within the Force is he exactly?”

Plo was quiet for too long before he said, “Obi-Wan said that he felt Anakin die and the bond between them break, and though a new bond has become to form between them, he claims the old one still lies cold. What have you sensed from your own?”

She looked away and didn’t, couldn’t look up again as she spoke, “If I didn’t know that he was with the healers, if I hadn’t seen him, I would think he was still dead.”

Plo put a hand on her shoulder, “And that is why we have chosen to keep you too apart.”

“But-” she protested.

“Anakin has become upset at much, with others, with himself. Though he has not proven since he woke up, his attacking his own troops makes us worry. he still doesn’t know where or even who he is, not really. His vision has become more real to him than the present. Your Master would not have wanted you to see him like that, nor would he have wanted to hurt you with careless words. He may never again be the Knight he was.”

“But he is the Chosen One!” she exclaimed, the idea of her Master being anything but a Jedi seemed ridiculous.

Okay, not that ridiculous but the idea that he would remain somehow disconnected from the Force, that most certainly was.

“How much do you know of that prophecy?” he asked.

She shrugged, “That he is prophesied to bring balance to the Force.”

He nodded, “Yes, but there also is a line about such a one of having no father.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, “Sounds like a metaphor to me.”

“As it has seemed to many, however, Anakin is now saying that Darth Sidious claimed to be his maker during the attack.”

“What?” she asked, “Anakin’s dad is the Sith Lord?”

Plo sighed, “If he was not your Master, I would not be sharing this with you. But circumstances being what they are, I want you to understand how deeply troubling this matter has become and why your separation from him is not meant as a punishment or our doubting either of you. There are just simply factors involved that are too unknown to be fully accounted for.”

She stared at him, “How is Master Obi-Wan holding up?”

Plo sighed once more, “Not well, but on the other hand, Anakin is depending on him actively and openly, it is giving Obi-Wan courage where he may have otherwise despaired.”

Ahsoka nodded, that was pretty on parr from her understanding of her Master and grandMaster’s relationship. Obi-Wan was always there, always steady, and was at his absolute best when people counted on him, while Anakin would sooner die than ask for help, especially from his Master. So to hear that Anakin was asking for Obi-Wan’s help brought Ahsoka a measure of relief.

Plo went on, “We tried searching for Anakin’s sire through a blood sample and found something more than peculiar.”

“Peculiar how?” she asked.

“According to every sophisticated test that exists, Anakin Skywalker has exactly one parent, which by the laws of human reproduction is impossible.”

“Um, I’m not following? If cloning is possible, surely anything is possible.”

“On the contrary, clones still have genetic parents. Jango Fett may have been their donor and claim rights as sire but he is -was, their brother. Jango's parents are theirs. But there was an anomaly for Anakin because we could only identify one parent. Which is why we sent samples to the Kaminoins, but their reports further confused the issue. If the genetics are split, it would appear as if someone took the base of Shmi Skywalker’s genome and turned on every possible marker that has been proven or suspected to be tied to Force sensitivity. But the problem is all other genetic markers are the  _ exact _ same as Shmi’s, making her the mother  _ and _ father.”

“Okay,” Ahsoka said, “Soooo… there’s what? Incest, weird cloning, or like two eggs through labwork maybe?”

“The Kaminoins claim that successfully producing a clone with these markers is next to impossible. The odds of there being cloning involved are so innumerable to not be considered. And the other options are simply negated by the mere fact that Anakin is male. Had any other manipulation going on with the human mother’s genome, her child would have to be female to have such an exact match, as it is the male genome in the human species that decides gender.”

“So that means what?”

“The Council believes the Sith used the Force itself to inseminate the mother.”

Ahsoka made a face, not at all liking that word or the implications, then another idea struck her, “What are...Are you saying Anakin isn't fully human? That he is what? Part Force spirit-energy-thing?”

“He is human, but it is possible that a part of his nature is… that is his life, more so than most is inseparable from the Force.”

Dread swept down her side, “But his connection with the Force is damaged, everyone has said so.”

Plo said nothing.

“Is he dying?”

“‘Soka-”

“ _ Is he dying!? _ ” she demanded.

“To our knowledge, he is not, but neither is he okay,” Plo said with brutal honesty. “We have more questions than answers and Anakin has regained neither his presence within the Force or his memories. His road to recovery will be long, and tasking and no one can say if a full recovery is, in fact, possible.”

“And you want me to let him go,” she stated, looking out at the surface of Coruscant that seemed as ever unchanged by war or mayhem or the Hero With No Fear fading from the galaxy.

“No, I want you to understand that there is no one who can tell you for certain what will and what will not be. Anakin’s condition is out of our hands, your future is still very much within your own.”

She turned her gaze back to him, “I’m being sent with a group to help protect the Corps and bring planets to self-sustainability. What real Jedi Knights were meant to do.”

She couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice, and whether it was bitterness for her people who had been sucked into this war against their own determination, or for herself.

Because she would rather be at war, rather fight and lead then be on the sidelines.

“Many of the regions where the Corps serve have fallen into peril and we have in the past not have had the troops to send to them for additional support.”

She nodded, “But for the type of danger they are facing it is more planetary unrest and piracy, I understand. Knights are better for that even than the troops. Seeing as the mere presence of the clones could cause unrest among local populations and further push Separatist sympathizes.”

Plo stared at her a moment before saying, “I’ve heard that you have been explaining as much to your fellow Padawans. The Council and their Masters are grateful, your words have had a greater impact than our own.”

She inclined her head, “I was only speaking the truth.”

“All the Padawans over the age of seventeen whose Masters remain and will continue to remain in the military, have been given the option to remain at their Master’s side or accompany the groups being sent out elsewhere.”

Ahsoka nodded, knowing a pep talk when she heard it. 

Plo continued, “Your record with the 501st is most remarkable, ‘Soka, both Commander Cody and Rex, as well as Master Kenobi have spoken in your favour.”

“I’m grateful to them,” she said on autopilot, waiting for the final, ‘now be a good girl and go where you are told.’

But that isn’t at all where Master Plo was going.

“I would like to ask you to be my Padawan, Commander Ahsoka Tano. As a Council member, I would not have as much time to devote to your studies as I would like, but under my subversion, with my men, it would be fully your choice to remain as a Commander or follow the path that is more traditional of this Order.”

She stared at him, “You want to be my Master?”

Again, he smiled down at her, “It would be my greatest honour.”

Ahsoka couldn’t stop herself from hugging him, nor the tears that escaped, “Thank you, Master Plo.”

He hugged her back, “You are most welcome, Little One.”

When she pulled back she wiped at her cheeks, “And I do want to stay in combat.”

He nodded and pulled a datapad from his robes.

“What’s this?” she asked, taking as she tried to focus on the happiness of this moment and not the sorrow and worry that had brought it about.

“A gift.”

She looked up at him, “You didn’t have to, you’ve already done-”

He shook his head, “No, not from me. The 501st Legion, Commander Rex gave it to me to pass to you.”

Curiosity lit, she opened the pad and found several hundreds of files all marked with either a clone’s name or number or both.

She tapped on Rex’s first.

_ Hey Tano, _

__ _ We wanted to congratulate you on your promotion to the 104th. General Koon told us he had not asked you yet, but we all know you. _

__ _ The 104th Battalion is huge, and they are all children. We probably prepared you, but seeing as you will most likely be placed with the Wolf Pack… don’t be afraid to break a few buckets is all I’m saying. _

__ _ We will doubtless be on the field again someday soon, but until then don’t worry about Skywalker, he’s in good hands and we’ll give him back to you once Cody has taught him some manners. _

__ _ You’re going to make a great general one day, and become one of the greatest Jedi Knights this galaxy has ever seen, much less imagined. _

__ _ So make us proud, show’em the kind soldier that can only come from the 501st Legion. _

__ _ Burn bright, Commander. _

__ _ Ever Yours, _

__ _ Rex & Co. _

_ P.s. Everyone wrote you something, please message me if I need to court marshal anyone. _

Ahsoka didn’t realize she was crying until she read through the message a third time. She looked at Plo, “Appo once told me the reason they fight is for the brother beside them, is it wrong that I feel the same way?”

It was a question she asked Anakin once and he defended the purpose for the war. He, after all, had been enslaved on a world outside the Republic’s rule.

But Master Plo had a far different response, “No, my Padawan, it is not an ill reason to fight. Yet if the reasons for waging a war are so muddled that it becomes our only reason then we have already lost.”

She blinked at him, “This war isn’t anywhere close to over.”

Plo nodded, “Which is our task, to keep our minds open to any way to bring an end to it, to bring peace. That is our mandate.”

She looked down at the datapad hand in her hands, and wondered how many of her brothers would die between now and that end. Ahsoka opened her senses to the Force and felt that the Darkness had been growing.

She glared at that Darkness and sat taller in her seat.

_ Burn bright, Commander. _

Ahsoka would not be cowed, she would not give up hope, not for her brothers, not for the Jedi, or Anakin, or the democracy people like Padme and Satine fought for in their own ways.

She would not give up hope, and she would never be dimmed by the Darkness that seemed to mock her.

* * *

Two weeks had passed and the Temple was emptier than Obi-Wan had ever seen it. 

Even the staff had been dismissed with the compensation of continued paychecks, a raise, and job placement, the promise that if the Temple did return to normal they would be first in line to require their positions.

But that could be years.

The transition of the Padawans had been the rockiest transition, yet the Masters and Knights with them had increased their studies in lightsabre duelling and given them larger responsibilities that defused most if not all of the tension some had felt being pulled out of the war.

Rex had told Obi-Wan that the news of Jedi pulled off the field was well known among the troops, but far from being offended, Rex had had a list of some other Jedi Masters and Knights that might be taken off the field as well.

Cody would have never been so bold, but when Obi-Wan asked him and Wolffe who else among the Order should be removed from military rank, some names shocked the Order.

Such as Masters Pong Krell, Luminara Unduli, and Ki-Adi Mundi.

Ki-Adi hadn’t been pleased and had asked  _ who _ had said as much, to which Obi-Wan had responded, “That you would ask who and not why is the reason you’re unfit to command our troops.”

The Council room had fallen deathly quiet at that but one no one challenged his assertion, he continued, “The three of you have had many victories but your losses have been abnormally high. I think it would be for the best if we found new assignments for you, and having a Council member not consumed with the war will benefit the Order.”

Obi-Wan had not made himself popular among his peers despite them following his advice. Yet, since then, Obi-Wan had noticed that both Cody and Rex spoke more openly to him.

Which was good, because Obi-Wan could get as much support as he could because Anakin…

Wasn’t getting better.

Healer Che finally had signed the all clear for Anakin to leave the ward after more tests than Cody had half jokingly said he had even been through.

Finding out that he was perhaps less, or more than, human, Anakin had treated as one discussing the weather.

Obi-Wan honestly couldn’t tell what his apprentice thought about the mystery that was his genetics. Though quite understandably, he was a bit more concerned with not understanding how he had ended up on Coruscant.

So it was with that problem at hand that the first place Obi-Wan took him was not to his room in the Temple but out onto the surface.

The look on Anakin’s face…

It was enough for Obi-Wan to realize that he truly had no memory of his life on Coruscant.

Obi-Wan couldn’t ever recall seeing such open wonder on Anakin’s face as when he looked up at the traffic, of the sunlight glinting off of the buildings and vehicles.

“There are so many beings here,” Anakin murmured.

Obi-Wan could feel his own smile was sad, each day it became more clear that Anakin was not coming back to the person he had been. “Indeed, there are, on every level. Now come, I’ll let you drive.”

Anakin let out a short laugh.

Force help them, even Anakin’s laughter wasn’t his own.

“You’ll let the invalid drive?”

“I’ve survived worse,” Obi-Wan assured him, not wanting to let on that it was a test.

“I will have you know that I am an excellent pilot,” Anakin said with familiar arrogance.

Obi-Wan tsked, “Unless you’re landing.”

Anakin rolled his eyes, but followed Obi-Wan down to the docking ports to retrieve one of the Temple speeders.

However, when they got to the docks and Obi-Wan passed him the ignition fob, Anakin just stared down at him.

“What?” Obi-Wan asked as Anakin continued to stare at him.

“You’re shorter than me,” he said it with an air of amazement.

It was Obi-Wan’s turn to roll his eyes, chucking the fob at him as he got into the passenger seat, “It appears your observations are as stellar as always.”

Anakin was slightly flushed as he climbed into the driver’s seat, igniting the speeder without deliberation or confusion, “I didn’t mean… I just thought you were taller.”

Obi-Wan just raised a brow as Anakin pulled them into traffic.

Defensively, Anakin argued, “It isn’t like Master Che has let me do much walking around over the last few weeks.”

“Sure, blame the healer for your cheek,” Obi-Wan teased.

“ _ Obi-Wan _ ,” Anakin wined.

Obi-Wan laughed, the sensation feeling forigien but not unwelcome.

Anakin grinned at the sound, before turning his attention back to the city, “Where to, Master?”

A part of Obi-Wan marveled at how easily Anakin used that title now when his apprentice could barely tolerate his own first name.

“For now, just fly, we can stop somewhere if you get hungry. But for today and tomorrow, we have no responsibilities.”

Anakin’s smile was more joyous than Obi-Wan could remember seeing it in a long, long time as he shifted the speeder into a different gear.

Obi-Wan braced himself for breakneck flying, but though Anakin sped up, he weaved through traffic with… grace, never jerking them, never causing others to fear a collision.

It wasn’t how he normally drove, and though Obi-Wan still had to flash his credentials a few times for their speed, it was otherwise a peaceful journey.

“So,” Anakin began, “tell me about a Kenobi adventure.”

Obi-Wan tensed, trying to think of a story that he hadn’t tried to remind Anakin of over the few weeks.

But Anakin continued, “About you and Qui-Gon, before I was around.”

Obi-Wan let his tension drain into the Force. He could do that, and casting his mind back, he found stories he hadn’t reflected on in a long time.

He found himself smiling, and despite the unfamiliar rhythm of Anakin’s laughter, he was nevertheless happy to see his Padawan with some semblance of peace with himself and his surroundings.

Not knowing where he was going, Anakin had flown them as far from the Temple as was possible that night until the sunrise. Rather than get a transport back, Obi-Wan rented them a room at a hotel.

Anakin slipped off into sleep easily after a larger than normal meal they had had at a nearby restaurant.

Strangely, Obi-Wan found unconsciousness sooner than expected as well, and he could have sworn he heard Qui-Gon’s voice tell him, “Anakin is gone, do not lose sight of the Padawan who is before you now, Obi-Wan.”

Obi-Wan didn’t have a response for that because sleep claimed him with a vengeance that came from dodging sleep for a week or more.

* * *

“What?” Cody demanded, staring at Rex in astonishment.

“You heard me.”

“I did, but Rex…”

“Do you think Kenobi could put in a request for her to be transferred to our-”

“Are you crazy?” Cody hissed, “General Kenobi is on the Council.”

“Yeah, but he listened to you, Krell, Unduli,  _ and _ High General Ki-Adi Mundi got removed. Kenobi will listen to you.”

Cody rubbed his temples, “Are they actually in love?”

“Yes,” Rex said, “Cody, they got married over coms during one of the last battles.”

Cody was not a romantic, or at least, he didn’t think he was but that got to him. With a sigh, he said, “I can ask, but I can’t promise anything.”

Rex’s excitement grew, as he continued to further support his request, “Darman is really worried for her. We know we have at least a month or more on leave still, and we are down a Jedi Commander.”

“I’ll ask, but what if drawing attention to this gets her expelled from the Order?”

“We can still be there for her, she is our family now,” Rex reasoned.

Cody couldn’t argue against that point.

Commander Etain Tur-Mukan, the first Jedi Knight to fall in love with and marry one of their brothers.

She was also seven months pregnant.

So in one conversation, Cody found himself with a sister-in-law and unborn niece or nephew he was just about certain he would do anything for.

He didn’t dare ask the galaxy what other chaos it had in store for them.

He would leave that to Dar and Rex.

* * *

AN: Thoughts or ideas that you would like to see from Luke? Feedback or sea turtles?


End file.
